McHugh Claims Pair of NJSGA Championships in the 53rd Women's Senior & 33rd Women's Super-Senior
ALLAMUCHY, N.J. – The 53rd Women’s Senior and 33rd Women’s Super-Senior Championships concluded on Wednesday afternoon at Panther Valley Golf and Country Club. Donna McHugh was able to ride Tuesday’s momentum and turn that into not one but two trophies, carding a 14-over par 86 to bring her 36 round total to 25-over par 169.
“I was four strokes higher than yesterday.” said McHugh, “It was a battle today. It was really a battle. The wind was very difficult.”
McHugh found herself in a close race down the stretch with another member of her group, Meral Malady, who was able to overcome yesterday’s deficit to keep things close until the end.
“It was more like playing match play instead of stroke play,” explained McHugh. “In match play you tend to do things a little bit differently. We were even on the front, we were even on the back, score wise. She had some difficult holes, I had some difficult holes. We went back and forth a lot. It was really a good match. Meral is a great competitor, so it was really a great match.”
After a double bogey on No. 16, McHugh and Malady were all tied up with only two holes remaining, but No. 17 proved to be a pivotal one for McHugh.
“On the 16th hole, after I double bogeyed from 72 yards out, I looked at the leaderboard and I saw that it was the two of us.”
“The key to the match was the 17th hole. I sank a 10 foot birdie putt and my opponent bogeyed it. So that put me up two. That put us even for today, but two overall again.”
This is both McHugh’s first and second championship wins.
“I've come in second place a bunch of times. I've done great on the first day and horrible on the second day. I've played in the Mid-Am, I've played in the Amateur as well. I haven't done well in either one of those. Those kids are too young for me” McHugh laughed, “But these are my people, so I have to do better here. It was great.”
At the conclusion of two beautiful fall days, McHugh impressively left Panther Valley with both the Super-Senior and James Dorment trophies.
In the net division, Susan Kim of Galloping Hill Golf Course tallied a 11-under par 133 to earn the top spot. Ellie Yum, also of Galloping Hill claimed the Super-Senior net scoring honors.
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